Service King seeks investment firm to fund expansion

Andrew Johnson

April 18, 2012—Service King Collision Repair Centers is searching for a private investment firm to invest in the company to help fund a national expansion effort.

Jennifer Kirk, vice president of marketing for Service King, said company founder Eddie Lennox is spearheading the effort. Lennox decided that taking on a private investment partner was the best way to grow. He announced the growth strategy internally to the company’s 1,500 employees during a video speech April 17.

Service King has not yet identified the specific investment firm it will partner with, Kirk said. The company is working with wealth management firm BB&T, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., to help find the appropriate investment partner. A final decision is expected within the 2012 calendar year.

Kirk said Service King’s goal of partnering with an investment firm is to help the company establish additional shop locations throughout the U.S.—beyond the 47 facilities it already operates in Texas.

“We are not being sold or bought-out,” Kirk said. “Our goal is to become a national organization. We just want to grow beyond Texas, and become the largest and best-run collision center in the United States.”

Service King has not yet identified how many shop locations it will establish, which areas of the country it will focus on, or how much capital it needs to acquire, Kirk said. That information will not be confirmed until a specific investment partner is found, and terms of the partnership are established.

“The plans are to grow and become national. We have no ideas where the new shops will be located; it could be anywhere within the U.S.,” Kirk said. “That’s all we’ve identified at this point.”

Kirk said the growth initiative would not cause any changes to Service King’s business structure. Lennox intends to remain involved with the company, and no employee layoffs are expected, she said.

“This is strictly a growth strategy, and the result of a growth plan we’ve identified for 2012. The timing is right,” Kirk said. “It’s all good for the employees at Service King. It allows for more opportunity for everybody within the company to grow with us in the future.”